A Swordsman's Christmas
by enlightedfallenAngel
Summary: Christmas in the Thousand Sunny, what more to say? Well Zoro has his fun while somebody watches him fail. Merry Christmas and enjoy!
1. Decorations

"I don't think you're doing it right Zoro-San."

On the average day aboard the Thousand Sunny there would be many commotions and lively moments. If there wasn't an island for weeks travel sometimes it would be mix of fighting and distractions out of boredom. Today however was Christmas.

And unlike the other 364 days of the year; excluding birthdays and made up days that were approved by their captain; Christmas was special. Gifts were a must and the crew's cook was always in a good mood to create extraordinary dishes for his captain's stomach. Luffy even went as far as to leave the kitchen untouched for a few hours out of the knowledge that the wait would be worth it.

Among the Thousand Sunny were scattered individuals fixing their share of festivities among the ship. Nami and Usopp were decorating Sunny's doors with lights and ornaments. The navigator was cheerful than usual, so much that oranges could be seen atop the many doors filled with Christmas fixtures.

Brook, Franky, and Chopper were helping Sanji with the cooking. Under any circumstances was the captain of the crew allowed to step one foot inside the kitchen at these hours. Luffy didn't mind though. He was too busy distracted trying to tie a ribbon around Sunny's head; which by orders of Nami was to be fashioned with the small tangerines that somehow the captain had to make sure didn't fall of.

A move the navigator did to save Sanji sometime before Luffy figured out the existence of adhesive.

On top of the crow nest was a staggering swordsman who was being watched by a somewhat amused Robin. The assignment for Zoro was easy, if he had Robin's ability of course. However the windy current was making it hard for the ex-pirate hunter to place that damn star on top of the flag pole. He was already on top of the watch room all he had to do was climb a bit and place the decoration that had been in his hand for quite some time. Robin explained that without being able to see the pole she could not make her powers work.

A while back Zoro took her word. But now…especially when he kept seeing her look up from the glass window casually sitting on the edge with that annoying smirk. He had his doubts.

"Yeah maybe you could help," Zoro said giving her a stern look that only made that annoying smirk of hers more noticeable.

Before the swordsman said anything else a legion of hands pushed his feet up like an elevator and conveniently place him at eye level with the small wooden plate of the flag pole.

Zoro gave a growl of frustration before he placed the star quickly but neatly on top of the pole. A small flicker from the lights of the star blinded the swordsman only eye briefly. One of Franky's latest inventions, touch sensitive lights. What an age to live in no?

Still he didn't forget as he made his way down to show his clear disapproval of Robin's methods.

"You could have warned me before you did that," he said leaping through the same window Robin was sitting on.

"It looks very nice though." The archeologist gave an approval nod to the star that now lay on top of the ship's pole brightly gleaming the flag's colors.

Zoro got one of his workout towels to get some warmness to his face before figuring out another flaw in Robin's actions.

"I thought you said you couldn't use your powers if you couldn't see what you wanted to move."

"I did. I saw you."

Nico Robin picked up the empty cup of coffee that sat across from her before heading downstairs.

"Tch. After Luffy I might as well go after her too."

**There are two chapters; the next one will be about the most memorable things about Christmas. GIFTS! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and wait a bit for the next one. Merry Christmas! Feel free to review.**


	2. Gift

"Ow! That food was super!"

Typical Franky with his sidearm stance which usually attracted similar gestures from the youngest member of the crew.

Sanji scrunched his cigarette against the wall as he gave a last look to his only care of the world.

"Nami-Swan. Robin-Chan. How was my treat for my angels?"

If the cook had ever outdone himself, today was definitely the pinnacle of his culinary arts.

By the two women's side of the dinner table was a white chocolate creme brulee, untouched and specifically made for them by yours truly.

Luffy who would have none of it, already had made his move before Nami the first to lift up her fork; could touch it.

"Damn it Luffy, I already made you your own cake! Stop stealing my chances."

Sanji with fast precision launched his right leg generously across the captain's face. In an amusing matter Luffy's face stretched out in protest, never leaving his eyes off the treasure in front of him.

"But Sanji! You didn't make me something that good."

"Everything I make is good."

"Not everything-"

"Marimo! Stay out of this."

"Eh! Did you say some-"

"Both of you shut up!" A disgruntled navigator put out four of her crewmates on the floor even though only three were actually involved. To her defense though this was about the time Brook was going to ask to see her panties anyways, so it was only a matter of time.

While all the too typical moods of the crew were progressing though their usual phase, Robin had finished her slice of the delicate wonder the cook made for her. She was not fond of really sweet treats, but this goodness was definitely worth being an exception.

"It's very good Sanji, I'm really impressed." Robin gave the perverted cook a side smile before having to see him hold his face to contain himself.

He didn't say anything other than a thumb's up to the archeologist while taking deep breaths. Chopper's 'therapy' sessions were paying off for the most part.

"Alright everybody. Sanji thank you for your great cooking, now everybody time to open our gifts!" Nami walked by Robin holding her hand to eagerly go by the lounge room.

The crew made an effort to have a tree for Christmas, but it wasn't anything special to look at. They hadn't been to an island in over two weeks and the small archipelago that came across had only small trees. However with the help of Franky the crew made a hybrid of a tree with metal bearings that made it seems like a real tree in plain view.

The crew gathered around the sofa with their view directly across the gifts that lay spread out under the Christmas tree. Luffy had already reached under and started picking out the biggest box he could find. Breaking tradition the rest of the crew followed in protest.

"Oi, Luffy wait your turn." Usopp placed his hand across Luffy's face and took the present away from him.

The captain showed a determined face that he usually carried through pointless arguments.

"That's for me, I got you something too Usopp."

"W-wait Luffy. I got you this at least let me hand it to you first." The sniper gracefully handed out his present to Luffy, who in turn showed his trademark grin.

The straw hat boy ripped the wrapping paper with haste and unraveled a small golden bug.

"Oh! Hercules! A gold Hercules."

Usopp smugly held his chin while turning his back against his captain.

"Yeah you see while I was away on my adventures taking on wild beasts and…"

Everybody else had ignored the biggest liar of the group and started to hand each other presents.

"Oh Nami-Swan thank you for this. These kitchen knives are great, I hope you didn't have to-"

"Nope. Don't sweat it; I got an awesome deal on them." The navigator gave him a sly smile before opening her gift Chopper eagerly pressed her on to open.

"This is cute! Chopper I love these earrings!"

"Um Zoro-San, I noticed you enjoyed cleaning your swords with a polish cloth. I got you this whetstone, I don't know if you ever used one of these before."

The skeleton gentleman handed over his present to the swordsman who grinned at his cleaning set.

"Yeah, I had one before, but I lost it in our old ship. This is great; I'll put it to good use."

Zoro finished thanking Brook for his present before turning around to give his present to the last person on his list.

"Thank you Franky, I was running low on sketch paper. Oh and this is set as well."

Robin was happily flipping through her present as Franky pointed out all the cool features that he added to the tablet board that contained her new sketch book.

Zoro decided to not bother her now, maybe later.

Instead he looked down at the small doctor who was playing around with his new blending machine Zoro got him. In truth Zoro had bought it a few months ago from a guy that too scared to charge him for it. He was just trying to find something to coat his swords in as the small machine got his interest.

"The guy who gave it to me said it could smash anything up. You can mix anything like rats and stuff in it."

Chopper looked up startled and waived at the swordsman, "I don't need rats to make medicine, what kind of idea is that."

Zoro frowned and left for the kitchen to get something to drink.  
><em><br>What? Well somebody told him rats had some trait for cures…_

The crew finished handing each other presents and left for bed. Sanji had volunteered to stay behind on night watch. Mostly because he was probably trying to look at the calendar Brook had given to him.

Zoro had a hard time falling asleep while he kept thinking about something. He felt like he forgot to do something.

Robin's present.

He let out a growl of frustration and got up from his bed. He would have to see if tomorrow he could give it to her, or just let it be. Would Robin notice she didn't get anything from him? Maybe. But she wouldn't mind it surely.

He went out to the kitchen to get some of the specialty brew of sake Sanji had gotten him when he realized the lights were turned on in that room. Zoro got closer to the kitchen but he had to make a turn to get to it first. He couldn't see it after a while but it reappeared after a second left turn. Finally he went through the door of the kitchen making sure to close it quietly behind him.

As he looked around he saw nobody, just a dim light that was overlaying the dinner table that previously contained so much commotion. The swordsman shrugged and headed for the refrigerator only to see a small figure already picking out some of his brew.

"Shaki's blend? My you have quite a collection here Zoro-San."

He didn't know if Robin was talking to him directly or if she hadn't notice him sneaking behind her. Either way he spoke.

"You can have that one; I just want to get that one in the brown bottle. That was a keeper."

Robin flinched in surprise as she saw the swordsman behind her.

So that answered his previous question.

Although to his surprise he could have sworn he saw a small tint of red spread across her face. He kind of liked seeing these rare moments.

Robin regained her composure and bent down to pick up another bottle and silently handed him his drink.

"Let's try them out then."

Both crew members were sitting across from each other while they glanced at outside the crow nest view.

They took a few sips before Zoro decided to speak again.

"Are we going to have to put up all of our decorations down tomorrow?"

The raven haired woman gave him sideways glance. Then looked back up.

"Perhaps. Why? Do you need help with that star again?

This time he chuckled at her tease. He took another sip before taking his eyes out of the crow nest where Sanji was doing who knows what. Instead he turned to Robin who already had her eyes set on him way before he did. His eyebrows furrowed as he took another sip. Nico Robin was carelessly twirling around her pen where her sketchbook Franky had gotten her was in plain view. In fact Zoro couldn't remember how it had gotten there; she must have pulled it out while he was still looking at the crow nest.

At first she didn't say anything, and then she smirked down at herself. That's when she decided to speak.

"Franky's gift was quite exceptional. I rather enjoyed it a lot."

Roronoa Zoro glanced at the book for a split second then shrugged while giving a stern nod.

"It's nice I suppose."

"Indeed. It's got five different ink cartridges on the side of the board. Than man is a genius at making random things."

The green haired swordsman looked down at his bottle trying to measure out the remaining sips he could take.

"It's a nice gift, "she said flatly.

He really didn't know why, but he wanted her to stop talking about that damn sketchbook. And it wasn't anything against the item itself.

He finally looked up and made eye contact with her.

She already beat him to it, in fact she seemed to be letting on more than he could imagine.

"I forgot to give you your gift."

There was an echo as the drift of both individuals voice repeated the same sentence.

Robin placed her sketchbook to the side and placed one of her hands across her chin.

"You first, Zoro-San."

He bit his tongue as he tried to remember if Robin had ever been this challenging over the last couple of years. He pulled out a small box from his right pocket which he slowly placed in front of the archeologist elbows.

She gave a surprised look to the swordsman as he gave her a faint smile. Robin opened it up, her slender fingers feeling the soft fabric of the box which seemed good enough to keep as a gift alone. The velvet stripes showed an opening from the side and inside Robin saw a golden arm band with the letters 'N.R' inscribed.

Zoro looked down at his drink again and took the final sip. The raven haired beauty picked up the jewelry and felt it's nice texture go around the piece.

"You always carried those things around; I know you lost them so I had one made for you. I didn't plan it, but I had a chance." Zoro lied a bit towards the end, but so what as long he didn't come up as a softy.

Robin effortlessly slipped it up her arm while showing it off to her giver. He nodded before she spoke again.

"Thank you Zoro, I wasn't expecting this."

Zoro got up to throw away his bottle while smirking at her.

"Beats that sketchbook."

_Why did he say that? He wasn't sure, but he felt that was true._

Just then a few hands from his side held him down to stop him from moving. It was already too late by the time he turned around to her she was already beside him.

"You're leaving? You didn't even ask about my present."

Zoro had met a lot of pretty faces. Many of them who belonged to people more than friendly. But he was sure that at this moment he was seeing something else. Robin with her light tan outfit made sure; effortlessly it seemed to make his view dedicated to her.

Dark eye met set of blue ones.

"Zoro, merry Christmas."

He thought about asking why she wasn't keeping her polite pun at the end of his name, but her kiss ended all further thoughts.

The next day Zoro and Robin woke up extra early to take down the Christmas decorations, that star would take a while to get down.

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter. This was not planned, just a small gift from me to you guys. I had an awesome Christmas I hope you guys enjoyed your holidays. New Years is right around the corner so I look forward to that as well. Again I hope you liked this little story and feel free to review, a penny for your thoughts. Thanks and Merry Christmas to all!**


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